UTV Ireland has finally launched, and the team behind the new channel are already celebrating.
Tonight viewers all over the country made the switch from TV3 to UTV Ireland as the station went live at 7.25pm just in time for the New Year’s Day episode of Emmerdale.
Presenter Pat Kenny also hosted an hour-long special Out With The Old In With The U at 8.30pm where he looked at the year gone by and chatted to stars such as Hozier and Tommy Bowe.
Earlier in the day Pat joined presenter Alison Comyn  and staff behind the scenes to raise a glass to the first broadcast.
New channel: UTV Ireland is live | VIPIRELAND.COM
Ireland at the channel’s headquarters and HD studios in Dublin’s Docklands, on New Year’s Day, were staff and presenters of the channel.
In the coming months Pat is expected to host his own chat show, and he recently told Goss.ie it will rival RTE show Prime Time.
UTV has also secured most ITV shows, with TV3 losing The Cube, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Loose Women, This Morning and The Graham Norton Show.
